August 30, 2009
Richard Stevens:
This morning, I only had about an hour before having to meet 4 birders for a trip into the mountains. I scoped the new wetlands at Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe). The Buff-breasted Sandpiper was lying in the sand on the east side of the pond area. It stood up once and then lay back down.
Also in the area were 4 Wilson's Snipe, a Virginia Rail, 3 Baird's Sandpipers, 2 White-faced Ibis, and a few ducks and other unidentified sandpipers.
At the northeast corner of the lake I thought I saw a Sabine's Gull on the sand spit. Unfortunately, I had stopped at the lower parking area for the boat launch area. A ranger came down and asked me to move (no parking down there on weekends, though I was not parked only stopped for 3 minutes). By the time I found another place to park, the mystery Gull had flown away.
Five of us drove up to Guanella pass by way of Grant (highway 285). I decided on this location (instead of Mt Evans) because their second target bird was an American Three-toed Woodpecker and thought we had better chance at success at Pine Valley Ranch Park.
Luck was with us today on both target birds. We were not out of the car 20 minutes before finding an adult and 3 obviously younger White-tailed Ptarmigan on the south side of the south south-east of the upper Guanella Pass parking area. I have spent 4+ hours to find one; 20 minutes is nothing.
At Pine Valley Ranch Park, I was prepared to hike the several miles from the parking area to the intersection of the Parkview and Strawberry Jack trails to find a Three-toed Woodpecker. Again it took less than 20 minutes to find a male Three-toed Woodpecker at 40 yards east of the Buck Gulch trail and 150 yards south of Pine Lake!
Back in Denver, I returned to Cherry Creek Reservoir to see if I could get a photo of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper. What I found was 30+ birders (one with a dog); figuring the sandpiper was not going to approach closer, I left.
Richard Stevens:
This morning, I only had about an hour before having to meet 4 birders for a trip into the mountains. I scoped the new wetlands at Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe). The Buff-breasted Sandpiper was lying in the sand on the east side of the pond area. It stood up once and then lay back down.
Also in the area were 4 Wilson's Snipe, a Virginia Rail, 3 Baird's Sandpipers, 2 White-faced Ibis, and a few ducks and other unidentified sandpipers.
At the northeast corner of the lake I thought I saw a Sabine's Gull on the sand spit. Unfortunately, I had stopped at the lower parking area for the boat launch area. A ranger came down and asked me to move (no parking down there on weekends, though I was not parked only stopped for 3 minutes). By the time I found another place to park, the mystery Gull had flown away.
Five of us drove up to Guanella pass by way of Grant (highway 285). I decided on this location (instead of Mt Evans) because their second target bird was an American Three-toed Woodpecker and thought we had better chance at success at Pine Valley Ranch Park.
Luck was with us today on both target birds. We were not out of the car 20 minutes before finding an adult and 3 obviously younger White-tailed Ptarmigan on the south side of the south south-east of the upper Guanella Pass parking area. I have spent 4+ hours to find one; 20 minutes is nothing.
At Pine Valley Ranch Park, I was prepared to hike the several miles from the parking area to the intersection of the Parkview and Strawberry Jack trails to find a Three-toed Woodpecker. Again it took less than 20 minutes to find a male Three-toed Woodpecker at 40 yards east of the Buck Gulch trail and 150 yards south of Pine Lake!
Back in Denver, I returned to Cherry Creek Reservoir to see if I could get a photo of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper. What I found was 30+ birders (one with a dog); figuring the sandpiper was not going to approach closer, I left.
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